[ti:South Africa Introduces Mandarin into Its School Curriculum] [ar:Bob Doughty] [al:Education Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, [00:01.83]this is the Education Report. [00:04.73]South Africa has 11 official languages. [00:09.00]If you want to say hello, [00:10.81]it's "sawubona" in Zulu, and "hallo" in Afrikaans. [00:16.51]Now, South Africa's school children [00:19.17]may start using "ni hao" to say hello. [00:23.53]The country's education minister says, [00:26.19]the nation is adding the Mandarin language teaching [00:30.24]in some schools. [00:31.90]Mandarin is the official spoken language of China. [00:36.35]That country is a major trading power for South Africa. [00:41.06]A recent agreement between the two nations [00:44.57]centers on five areas of cooperation. [00:48.63]They include development in basic education, [00:53.03]school books and lessons, mathematics and science, [00:57.88]teacher training and career education and research. [01:02.80]South Africa officials have not said [01:06.25]how much they teaching Mandarin will cost. [01:10.01]Troy Martens is an officials [01:12.48]with South Africa's Ministry of Basic Education. [01:16.38]She says the new partnership is extremely valuable. [01:20.69]"So it is very exciting and both countries [01:23.34]have indicated that for them education is a high priority, [01:27.11]and that is why education is high on the agenda of collaboration [01:31.32]between the two countries," said Martens. [01:32.83]The part of the plan that has garnered the most attention [01:36.94]is the inclusion of the Mandarin language in schools. [01:41.20]A public opinion study last year found [01:45.41]that South Africans have mixed feelings about China. [01:49.77]The survey showed 46 percent of South Africans [01:54.53]do not like the spread of Chinese ideas [01:58.03]and customs in their country, [02:01.19]the results also showed that 60 percent [02:05.15]dislike Chinese music, movies and television. [02:10.05]But Ms Martens said Chinese trade [02:13.16]is more important than those feelings. [02:16.03]She said it is extremely helpful to learners in South Africa [02:21.79]to study Mandarin as well as Chinese culture. [02:26.00]And she said not every school will offer Mandarin. [02:30.46]"Now this will not be compulsory, [02:32.27]it will not be for every school, [02:34.22]and it will not be for every child. [02:35.67]But for schools that feel they have the capacity [02:37.87]to offer Mandarin as a subject, [02:40.98]we think it is a great opportunity [02:42.32]for South African learners to be exposed [02:44.78]to this international type of language," said Martens. [02:48.40]South Africa's population studies [02:51.08]do not say how many native Chinese speakers [02:55.04]are among its nearly 51 million people. [02:59.29]Lisette Noonan heads the 80-year-old Pretoria Chinese School [03:04.89]in South Africa's capital. [03:07.29]The school serves about 500 students [03:10.70]from kindergarten to grade 12. [03:14.24]Every student studies Mandarin. [03:17.35]Ms Noonan says the school welcomes [03:20.25]the new cooperation between South Africa and China. [03:24.96]She said it is in the best interests of children to study Mandarin. [03:31.20]She said that especially true with China becoming [03:36.36]what she called "a huge economic power in the world". [03:41.86]South African schools suffer from the country's history of apartheid. [03:47.92]And from VOA Learning English, that's the Education Report. [03:54.08]I'm Bob Doughty. [03:55.59]¸ü¶àÌýÁ¦Çë·ÃÎÊ51voa.com